A Nose for snow

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I spent a few hours today at Tegg’s Nose Country Park taking advantage of the snow to try out my new camera…

With the mild winter we’ve had, I didn’t expect to get any snow photos and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.  It was slightly strange driving from early spring at home into winter in the hills and I took other photos looking from the hills towards a green Cheshire Plain. However, the birds up there also seem to be in a spring-likee mood with plenty of singing in the woods and valleys.

There are rumours that the weather is to remain cold all the way into April so there might be more chances to take a shot worthy of my next Christmas card!

From brash to ash

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Another day spent at Wybunbury Moss with Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers burning brash left behind by Natural England’s tree clearance activities.

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It was a lovely spring-like day with blue sky and white fluffy clouds.  The woodland was full of bird song, not quite at it’s full strength but certainly starting to build.

A day in the (very chilly) sun

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I was out with Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers today to continue with our tasks at Wybunbury Moss National Nature Reserve.  We spent the day burning brash that was left over from the tree clearance work Natural England have been undertaking.

It was lovely, bright weather but the chill didn’t leave all day when out of the sun and the breeze added a wintry edge that reminded us that spring could still be some way off.  In fact, it was so cold that there was still ice on the open water when we finished at around 3:00pm.  However, the fire kept us warm and it was put to good use towards the end with some marshmallow toasting (nom, nom).

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Before we left the Moss for the day, I went for a walk around the centre of the site.  It’s not often I can do this as the main area of the Moss is out-of-bounds to the public – it’s dangerous place to be.  One of the most eye-catching parts of the Moss is where there are standing dead trees; they drown as they grow heavier and their roots break into lake beneath the peat floating layer of peat – the weather made this photo opportunity impossible to let go.

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An uplifting break in the weather

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It seems a long time since I was out in the sunshine, so this morning when I woke to a blue sky, I went to Bagmere to do the final Winter Bird Survey for site this season.  After all the miserable weather and the dark mornings and evenings, a bit of sun can really lift the spirits.

Whilst the sun was shining, the wind was close to being too strong to allow me to do the survey.  However, when I got down into the shallow bowl in which Bagmere sits, it was sheltered from the worst of the wind and I could more than easily hear all the birds in the surrounding area.

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There wasn’t a great deal of bird activity and I didn’t get a particularly great list of species.  Unfortunately, willow tits were again missing from my records; after seeing them at Bagmere last time out there, I hoped I’d get them again.  Some nest boxes were put up for them last year and hopefully these will encourage them to breed.  The breeding bird surveys at Bagmere and Blakenhall Moss (both Cheshire Wildlife Trust reserves) start again next month, so I’ll soon see!

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Not long after returning home, the clouds came across and it started to pour with rain and hail – usual service had resumed!

Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2016

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After having a good time last year, I had to go to this beer festival again.  This year, it was at Manchester Central (formerly GMEX) and while not as spectacular as last years’ venue (the velodrome) it provided a larger space for this huge event.

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Again, I visited on the last day of the festival but this year I was disappointed that some of the beers and breweries I wanted to sample had already gone – no Purple Moose, no Isle of Skye and only one Adnam’s.  The food was quite poor too, compared to last year, with the venue providing the pretty average nosh – what’s more there was no cheese, again!

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Well, apart from a few supply and food grumbles, an afternoon spent sampling different beers is never one wasted – and I even won a prize on a pub game (first time for everything).

Will definitely be back again next year.

Doing something constructive…

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I was out with Crewe & Nantwich Conservation Volunteers today and rather than cutting down trees and setting fire to them, something we do often over the autumn and winter, we were planting them instead.  Much of our work to manage sites for nature involves destructive activities so it made a nice change to actually do something more obviously constructive.

Waking to snow on the ground, I reluctantly headed out. We spent the day outside in the cold but sheltered woodland around Brereton Heath Local Nature Reserve, near Congleton.   Working with Cheshire East Council Rangers, the group were helping to improve the woodland by planting understory trees including hazel, hawthorn and blackthorn.  When they have grown into thickets beneath the taller trees, it’s hoped that they will provide nesting habitats for summer migrants such as whitethroats and spotted flycatchers.

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Owl’s That!

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It’s been a great start to my wildlife year as I’ve already seen four of the five common UK species of owl in 2016.  For many that may not be such a great achievement but I only saw two species in the whole of last year!

On the second day of the year, I saw both long-eared and short-eared owls up on the Wirral and yesterday, an unusually nice day given recent weather, I saw both barn owl and tawny owl at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s Martin Mere reserve.  The barn owl siting was particularly good as there were three out in broad daylight, all within the same view.  Barn owls are particularly badly affected by rain so it is likely that they were out making the best use of the first bit of nice weather for a while.

The only other common species of owl left to see this year is the Little Owl and I’m bound to see one or more on Ramsey Island in June; they often sit outside the volunteers’ bungalow in the evenings, meowing like cats.

There is a small population of breeding eagle owls in the UK, either the result of escapes from captivity or immigration from the continent.  I’m very unlikely to see one here but I have had a fleeting glimpse of one in Sweden when it flew across a forest trail in front of the me.

Another positive owl-related development is the recent night-time calling of a tawny somewhere in trees around my house. Over the years I’ve lived here, I’ve very rarely heard owls but for the last few weeks the calls have become a fairly regular nocturnal sound. Hopefully this might be the start of a new territory close to my house. I love to hear the sounds of wildlife while I’m lying in bed – either the calls of owls and foxes through the darkness or the songs of dawn chorus as the light begins to grow.

I wish I had some photos to include in this post but my laptop doesn’t appear to like the images taken on my new camera – need to sort that out!